Silent Hill: The Cabin
by sentfromsilence37
Summary: Following a canoe trip, David is stranded near a cabin that is a little larger than it seems... rated M for language, which will become stronger as the story progresses, and some imagery.
1. Circles

So as to avoid any confusion, I don't own Silent Hill or any locations within its haunted borders… except for this cabin, which as far as I can tell, I completely made up, and the two characters in this story, which Konami has never heard of. The Lakeview, Toluca Lake, etc. and the town are theirs. Don't sue me or kick me off the site. Please?

My car finally ran out of gas in the middle of nowhere. Surrounded by woods, I began to wonder what animals were in the wilderness in this area, and which of them would come to get me first. Then I remembered that I'm an adult and know how to handle myself in these situations. My name's David Malten. I come from Jersey, but I was somewhere in Virginia when this mess began. Actually, at that point, that was all I was sure of.

It seemed that no matter how long I drove down that blasted road, nothing changed. I swear I passed the same fallen tree 8 times, but I never turned around. There were no forks, exits, or any of that for me to take that could've sent me in circles. I might not have noticed it for a few more laps, but I'd had to turn my radio off… I was getting some funky interference. Ergo, I noticed it a little faster, and when I ran out of gas, I didn't bother to try to walk forward. Instead, I went into the woods, like an idiot, because I was hoping to find shelter. It was a forest in Virginia, I figured _someone_ would have a house or something built.

I was right. The place was a wreck, but at least it was standing. And since the rain was just about to start coming down, I figured now would be a good time to get inside. I knocked first, expecting nothing and getting what I expected. I hadn't been hunting, I'd been canoeing, but I kept a small, high powered pistol in my car for times like this; alone in the woods in an unfamiliar place. I didn't spend all my time canoeing or doing outdoor activities, but I spent plenty of time on the road, driving to one place or another. Being armed, I knew, would save me one day.

Making the short trek back to my car and retrieving my gun and a few personal items, as well as the spare blanket and pillow I had for this trip, didn't take very long. I put a white cloth in my window, and used some dirt to make an arrow on it that pointed towards the cabin, more or less. If anyone came by, they'd find me eventually. I hoped.

Inside the cabin, I got my first sign that something was seriously wrong. The road never ending was just weird, I'd thought. I'd decided on it being my imagination. But the inside of the cabin shot that to shreds. This place had been used. Recently. But not by anyone I'd want to meet.

First of all, the inside was enormous. Outside, the cabin had been perhaps the size of one of those small, 20X25 beach houses. There was no physical room for anything more than a bed, a few pieces of furniture, a small kitchen, and a bathroom. The problem with that fact was that inside, this place looked more like a mansion, and I had no idea how it was done. I had no idea, because the door locked behind me, there were no windows anywhere, and I was trapped in this "cabin" until further notice. Every scary movie I'd ever seen, every video game I'd ever played… it all flooded back right then. It was going to be a hell of a night.

The second problem was the symbols everywhere. I wouldn't know a real Satanic symbol if I fell over one. So truthfully, I didn't know if they were Satanic. The blood they were written in gave me a hint that these were probably in the same vein… no pun intended. Shaking, scared for my life already, I pulled out my pistol, a Colt XSE with .38 super caliber rounds. I had about 4 clips of 9 shots, so if I found anyone, I'd be set, unless they were massing an army in here.

Creeping forward, it occurred to me to lighten my load. Sure I would never see them again, I dropped my pillow and blanket, thankful I didn't bring anything sentimental to sleep on. The eerie markings on the walls and aging furniture added to the atmosphere of a horror film waiting to happen. The ceiling wasn't miles away, but I'd guess it was a solid 25 feet, black as pitch, and supported by grey, concrete beams. It was quite an entryway, but not what I wanted to see just then. The room I was in had two doors, one on either side of the far end of the room. Both were locked. There weren't a heckuva lot of places to hide a key, so I deduced there was probably at least one in the desk that was hugging the wall. Hoping I wasn't about to disturb some ancient, dormant evil, I went to the desk and began searching.

The first drawer was empty, except for a small mark similar to the others. I was probably already cursed, so I kept checking. The next drawer held a key, which was a good start. The key was being kept safe by a severed, human hand. I almost didn't realize it; it looked so wrong that I couldn't place what I was seeing. I retched, throwing up next to the desk, and sank to the floor, suddenly even more terrified. There was an excellent possibility that I would not make it out of this cabin alive. There was just as great a possibility that my death would not be pleasant, nor final.

A minute later, I managed to stand up. I pried the cold fingers from the colder metal of the key, and took it. Then I searched the next drawer. It was full of paper. All the other drawers, actually, were full of paper. At least there weren't any skulls as paperweights. Humor at a time like this…

The key was engraved on top with a symbol that looked like a heavily stylized animal skull. I'd never seen the animal before, but the door on the left had the same symbol on the doorknob. The key worked, after jiggling it around a little bit. I guess I was going to explore the left side of the cabin first… of course, I didn't know what that meant since obviously the place was bigger than the outside presented.

The stench through the first door was absolutely overpowering. I couldn't place it for the life of me, but it was somehow familiar. The light was dim, due to the fact that it was coming from torches on the wall. There wasn't much to see at first glance; the floor was made of filthy tile, the walls were stained dark with unwholesome colors and were dancing in the shadows of the firelight. The hallway extended about 25 yards in front of me, lit by the torches. Halfway down the hall, I noticed something hanging between two torches. It almost appeared cylindrical, but upon closer look, I saw that was only a vague outline. Almost immediately, I began dry-heaving. It was a human being, strung up by his neck. He was decomposing, full of black skin and viscous liquid. After a weak-kneed minute, I stood, looking to see if there were more. And there were, between every two torches. Some were male, some were female, and some weren't even recognizable anymore. My stomach was slowly becoming used to the sight, even if my mind was still reeling. All at once, it occurred to me; I had to know what was happening in this place. I had to figure it out. Nobody else was coming out here… if there was, then the place would've been found and reported by now... unless there were others in here, also hoping for rescue. Or already dead. In any case, I was screwed, and had nothing to lose. I needed to know.

First things first: I had to actually examine these rotting bags of flesh. The thought wasn't as stomach turning as I originally thought it would be, but it was about time to stop puking and start working. Here we go, Dave…

The hung people hadn't died by hanging. The necks weren't broken, only bruised slightly from hanging there. Each person was stripped bare but for essential cloths covering their parts. Aside from that, I think they were put there to do precisely what they did to me; shock and nauseate. So someone was obviously trying to scare whoever might walk in here before they had a chance to explore too far. But that didn't make any sense… nothing had attacked me yet, and there was no way out; the cabin door had locked itself when I'd entered. Moving towards the other end of the hallway, I saw another door. Blood covered it, but I'd already made my decision to push onward. Besides, there was nowhere else to go, and I'd about had it with vomiting at each macabre detail.

The door was unlocked. A simply push opened it. On the other side lay the reason for all the psychological terror. There were two forms standing in the room. They were relatively close to each other, given that it was a small room. But whatever they were, they were not human.

Standing about 6'6", they towered over me, reeking of open graves. They didn't seem to have any weapons except for their mouths, which took up most of their heads. The teeth inside shifted, depending on the head angle, and all looked quite sharp. Arms that seemed made for grabbing food, long and spindly, raised and pointed vaguely in my direction. Their legs were about a man's proportions, and their skin seemed almost scaly. They took one look at me and let out a triumphant screech, then began walking towards me. Running didn't appear to be an option for them, but they made a little under average human walking speed. All this registered quite clearly in the brain. My shaking hand dropped my gun, however, and I had a hard time taking care of my newfound problem. The small size of the room wasn't going to allow me a second chance if I didn't hurry. So I grabbed the gun off the floor, not bothering to try to find the trigger, and ran out into the room with the hanging bodies. The two freaks followed me.

_ Ok, so they have the ability to open doors_, I thought to myself. This wasn't good, but it was to be expected. Whatever these things were, they certainly seemed to think I would taste good, as I was taking that horrid liquid oozing from their mouths as saliva. At this point, I remember my grip hardening, shifting to hold the gun properly, and then, without thinking, letting loose with 4 magnum caliber shots. All of them hit dead on in the mouths of the creatures.

I was stunned. I'd shot guns before, but I never knew I had that much skill. On some level, I knew that I didn't have anywhere near that kind of accuracy, especially with shaking, terrified hands. And the shots had dropped the Carnivores, so I'd known where to aim. _You knew they were called Carnivores too_, a voice in my head suddenly whispered. Wait… no, don't start thinking like they're actual voices. That's what insane men think. I'm perfectly sane, my mind is just having trouble with this mess right now. My accuracy probably just got an adrenaline boost, these things are reported, and do happen in combat. I'm ok.

All this happened in the space of a moment or two, and then I was bringing the gun up and walking into the room again, looking around cautiously to see if I was still in danger. I wasn't… I didn't think.

The room was exceptionally small, with a door on each side. Actually, the second door gave me something of a dilemma to solve. There was a key on the floor in the corner, presumably to the other door that I saw in the first room of the cabin. So forward, or backtrack?

Thinking about it, I decided that going back already could lead to a backtracking pattern, and thus waste a lot of energy. Forward was hence decided upon. I checked my weapon, 4 shots lighter, and pushed the door open, swinging the pistol from one side to the other. Empty. Just a 10X10X10 room of nothing. Except for another door. The door was unlocked, so I figured I'd just keep moving. Only this door led to a room that was nearly identical to the last. In fact, it was identical, because I recognized the stain in the right corner. Ok, what the hell?

I opened the door behind me. It led back to the room with the crumpled Carnivore bodies. Here, a thought occurred to me. I jogged back to the main hallway, trying to not breathe in the room with the hanging bodies, not looking at them, and not noticing them. When I got to the first fork, with the locked door leading to the right, I put the key in the lock and turned it. The knob flew back into the door as if spring propelled, taking the key and nearly taking my hand as well. Having done this, I trotted back to the door in the monsters' room, and opened it. Puzzle solved.

The room I now saw was much smaller. It appeared to be an office. Nothing out of place, no dust… just one disturbing detail. The note on the desk. "You don't remember me, but I remember you. –EM" Well, it beat dead, decaying bodies strung up like ornaments…

EM. Who on earth was EM? If I found this guy, I would have to make a note to give him a beating he'd never recover from. The mysterious EM left no other clues as to his identity… but he left me 20 bullets that matched my gun. They were in the center pencil drawer in the desk. How did he know? My mind was trying to grasp it all, but I simply could not make sense out of the weirdness that had happened in the past hour. I wished I'd never come on this trip, but it didn't change my location. I wished I had a clue what gave, but it didn't give me information. I wished I'd get my ass in gear again… and was rewarded with my body standing up straight, taking the bullets and pocketing them, and then going to the next room. Except that the next room didn't exist.

When I went to turn the knob of the one door in the room, it retracted like the other doorknob had. The wall actually slammed down over the damned door, and an arrow was written on the slab that came down. First I thought it pointed down, so I started searching the floor. Then I realized the arrow was meant to be 3-D, and made use of a vanishing point. I turned and went back to the first door with the trick knob, and was rewarded with an open door with stairs leading down to God knew what. Apparently I was almost right the first time when I thought, "Down…"


	2. Down

Again, to avoid lawsuits, the only things I own are the cabin and the chars. Silent Hill and any other mentioned locations are Konami's. They probably knew that, though.

The stairs themselves were made of a sturdy wood. The walls weren't lit especially well, but they seemed to be chipped and peeling, which was a change from upstairs where they had seemed stained, but completely intact. When I got to the bottom, two surprises awaited me. The first was a functional flashlight and a spare set of batteries. That made it seem to me like I was expected. This beam hadn't been running long; it was still a bright white light, not that dim yellow you'd expect of a run-down battery. The other item there was a radio. I'd turned my own radio off in the car when it had made some strange noises. At the time, I'd attributed it to loss of signal while being in the middle of nowhere. When I turned this guy on, however, it made the same noise. I didn't really think every radio sounded alike when it was static, especially not that bizarre, creepy sound mine had given off, but this sound was a carbon copy.

The third thing that waited for me wasn't a surprise, so I didn't list it among the surprises. Two more Carnivores were waiting for me in this next room. Without taking stock of my surroundings first, I shot three times, putting them both down. The radio stopped making noise.

I shook it, rattled it, flicked it, turned it on and off again and again, and I couldn't get it to make more noise. I tried to replace the batteries, but there weren't any in there to begin with! How did this thing make sound? The flashlight still worked fine…

_Just take it. What harm can come from it? You've got pockets, you know..._

I did at that.

Pocketing the radio, and holding the flash and my gun in front of me, I tried to go to the next room. Couldn't… locked. I'd been so distracted with the radio that I'd forgotten to look around. I was in a relatively featureless room. There was blood now from the Carnivores, as well as dried blood in the far corner from the entrance. No furniture, just brick walls all the way around. So what now?

"Maybe they want me to wish myself around this friggin' house…" I said aloud. At least my brain hadn't told me anything I shouldn't know recently. That was so weird… How had I known the creatures were called Carnivores? Did I just make it up on the spot? Could I possibly have seen one before? _Should you just get back to the task at hand and worry later?_ That was my usual inner voice. I refocused, then remembered I was having a serious problem in this room. Dammit.

Frustrated, I let my head droop, scratching my temple with the hammer of the gun. That's how I found the big clue. On the floor, it said in large, scrawled letters, "Brick by brick". The writing looked like it was using small intestine as a font, but the letters were not three dimensional and didn't appear to be anything but set into the floor. Moving along from that weird writing, I figured it could only mean one thing. "Brick by brick"… well, nothing to do but start searching the bricks!

First I looked for loose mortar. Nothing. Then holes or irregularities in the bricks. Nada. Then I tried pushing, pulling, kicking, pounding, and screaming obscenities. Zilch. Then I leaned on the wall. No, I didn't go through it. I did notice my shoulder felt something weird though. I touched that particular brick- and THAT one my hand went through. By through, I mean it passed through the brick like it wasn't really there. I couldn't see my hand! Therefore I couldn't see what I was doing. I got down to the brick's level with my face, took a deep breath, and peeked, expected hellish images, perhaps a demonic presence with vicious claws… but it was just a fake brick. There was a key resting inside. I'd bet it would fill the hole in the door.

Fortunately, I'd become accustomed to wiring myself up before going into a new room. If I hadn't, there would have been no filling the hole in my head.

A pistol shot went high only because I ducked when I saw the barrel. I rolled away, yelling, "Hold your fire! I'm a human!"

"Then come on out and close the damned door behind you!" came a pissed off female voice. I stepped out from behind the wall with my gun down. Hers wasn't lowered, and I got suspicious.

"Are you gonna point that piece someplace else?"

"Now that I see you're a person, I'll consider it. Who the hell are you?"

"David. Who the hell are you?" I allowed a little testiness to show in my voice this time, figuring that this woman was obviously high strung, and with good reason, but had no right to be interrogating me.

She sighed and answered, "Lydia. Sorry, I'm a little paranoid down here."

Nodding my agreement, I asked her, "Can you tell me anything about what the fuck is going on here?"

Again she sighed, looking slightly impatient, which I couldn't figure out. After about two seconds, she put the look away and began explaining. "Do you know where we are?" When I shook my head no, she continued, "We're about a mile north of the Lakeview Hotel in Silent Hill, north of Toluca Lake. Does _that_ ring any bells?" I thought for a moment and came up empty.

Well, almost.

"It rings a single bell, and the bell doesn't have a label. Enlighten me."

She continued, "The town has a history of cult involvement, drug trafficking, and other not so nice bits- not entirely unusual for a tourist town, but a bit more sinister, from the little reading I've done. There have been quite a few missing persons reports filed here recently, but aside from that, you now have as much background as I'm giving." I thanked her and she kept on, "I believe we've stumbled upon one of their main hideouts in the woods. Silent Hill has been abandoned for a few years now due to other problems, but the rumors that trickle out of town make me wish I'd never come up here."

"Why _did_ you come up here?" I inquiried.

"Not the time, Dave." she replied, "But we'll get there later. I don't suppose you've figured out how this dinky little cabin managed to change into a mansion with a dungeon?"

"Believe me, if I had, I would've offered up already. Have you done any further exploring?"

"Can't say that I have. There seems to be a couple ways out of here, though, so you showing up is good timing. You go that way, and I'll go this way," she pointed to my right for me, and her left for her.

"Great idea," I said, "Except that I don't want to split up with the closest thing to dying company I might have in this hell pit." Honestly, why was she insisting on doing the best possible thing to get us both killed? If she wanted to die, she could at least get it on with me, which is the single fastest way to kill yourself in a horror movie, which this setup was looking like more and more.

"Well, that's all well and good, but frankly I don't know you and I don't want a partner going through this maze. I don't work well with others, if you haven't figured it out yet. I'll see you later, Mr. Dave." And with that, she walked right through the other door, gun raised, and left me there.

You know, it would really figure that I enter the weirdest place on earth, see nothing but strange-ass sights, and then get dumped by the first person I find in the aforementioned hell pit.


End file.
